Information processing method, user equipment, and base station

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide an information processing method, user equipment, and a base station, where the information processing method includes: a terminal sends a random access preamble sequence according to a first coverage enhancement requirement corresponding to a first precision to a base station. The terminal receives a coverage enhancement requirement indication message, wherein the coverage enhancement requirement indication message indicates a second coverage enhancement requirement corresponding to a second precision from the base station. The terminal communicates with the base station according to the second coverage enhancement requirement.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/827,004, filed on Nov. 30, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/221,416, filed on Jul. 27, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,860,902, which is a continuation of International ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2014/071709, filed on Jan. 28, 2014. All of theafore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the communications field, and inparticular, to an information processing method, user equipment, and abase station.

BACKGROUND

With the development of science and technology, communicationstechnologies have also rapidly developed, which brings more convenienceto people's life.

The Internet of Things is used as an example. The Internet of Thingsrefers to a network in which information about a physical word isacquired by deploying user equipment (UE) with a specific capability ofperception, calculation, execution, and communication, a base stationsends the information to the network, and then information transmission,coordination, and processing are implemented, thereby implementinginterconnections between human beings and things and between things.Therefore, the Internet of Things may be applied to various aspects,such as a smart grid, intelligent agriculture, intelligent traffic, andenvironment detection, which provides convenience for people's life invarious aspects.

Because hardware and software constitutions of user equipments aredifferent from each other, and environments in which the user equipmentsare located are different from each other, communication statuses inwhich the user equipments communicate with a base station are alsotremendously different. Specifically, communication statuses in whichdifferent user equipments communicate with a base station in the sameenvironment may be different, and communication statuses in which a samedevice communicates with a base station in different environments mayalso be different.

Currently, to ensure accurate communication between user equipment and abase station, generally, the base station adds an additionalcommunication resource, for example information for transmission isrepeatedly transmitted, so as to ensure accuracy of communicationbetween the base station and the user equipment that communicates withthe base station. However, when the base station adds the additionalcommunication resource, accuracy of communication between the basestation and user equipment whose communication status is poorest whenthe user equipment communicates with the base station needs to beensured, but for another user equipment whose communication status isbetter, the additional communication resource added by the base stationcauses a waste of resources.

Therefore, a technical problem in the prior art that a waste ofresources exists when a base station communicates with user equipment.

SUMMARY

Embodiments provide an information processing method, user equipment,and a base station, so as to resolve a technical problem in the priorart that a waste of resources exists when a base station communicateswith user equipment.

According to a first aspect, embodiments provide an informationprocessing method, includes obtaining, by user equipment, a coverageenhancement requirement and communicating, by the user equipment, with abase station, according to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, after the obtaining, by user equipment, a coverage enhancementrequirement, the method further includes: storing, by the userequipment, the coverage enhancement requirement, so that the userequipment uses the coverage enhancement requirement in a next randomaccess process.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, after the obtaining, by user equipment, a coverage enhancementrequirement, the method further includes: reporting, by the userequipment, the coverage enhancement requirement to the base station, sothat the base station determines the coverage enhancement requirement ofthe user equipment.

With reference to the first aspect or the second possible implementationmanner, in a third possible implementation manner, the reporting, by theuser equipment, the coverage enhancement requirement to the base stationspecifically includes: reporting, by the user equipment at a firstmoment, a first coverage enhancement requirement to the base station ina random access process, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision; and reporting, by the user equipment, afirst message to the base station at a second moment after the firstmoment, where the first message is used to instruct the base station toadjust, based on the first message, the first coverage enhancementrequirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the first aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, after the reporting,by the user equipment, a first message to the base station, the methodfurther includes: storing, by the user equipment, the second coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the secondcoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementationmanner, the obtaining, by user equipment, a coverage enhancementrequirement specifically includes: receiving, by the user equipment, acoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station; and obtaining, by the user equipment, the coverageenhancement requirement according to the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message.

With reference to the first aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a sixth possible implementation manner, before the receiving,by the user equipment, a coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage delivered by the base station, the method further includes:reporting, by the user equipment, a message to the base station, so thatthe base station generates the coverage enhancement requirementindication message according to the message reported by the userequipment.

With reference to the first aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the reporting, bythe user equipment, a message to the base station, so that the basestation generates the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage according to the message reported by the user equipmentspecifically includes: reporting, by the user equipment, a firstcoverage enhancement requirement to the base station at a first momentby using a random access preamble sequence, where the first coverageenhancement requirement has first precision, so that the base stationgenerates the coverage enhancement requirement indication message at asecond moment after the first moment according to a message reported bythe user equipment at a moment between the first moment and the secondmoment, where the coverage enhancement requirement indication message isused to instruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverageenhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement,the second coverage enhancement requirement has second precision, andthe second precision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the first aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the receiving, bythe user equipment, a coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage delivered by the base station is specifically: receiving, by theuser equipment, the coverage enhancement requirement indication messagedelivered by the base station by using a random access response message.

With reference to the first aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a ninth possible implementation manner, after the obtaining,by the user equipment, the coverage enhancement requirement according tothe coverage enhancement requirement indication message, the methodfurther includes: storing, by the user equipment, the coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the coverageenhancement requirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a tenth possibleimplementation manner, the communicating, by the user equipment, with abase station according to the coverage enhancement requirement isspecifically: communicating, by the user equipment, with the basestation according to signal repetition times corresponding to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the first aspect or the tenth possible implementationmanner, in an eleventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

With reference to the first aspect or the eleventh possibleimplementation manner, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a thirteenthpossible implementation manner, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, thecommunicating, by the user equipment, with a base station according tothe coverage enhancement requirement is specifically: communicating, bythe user equipment according to the coverage enhancement requirement,with the base station by using another technology, in the coverageenhancement technology, except the signal repetition technology.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment further provides aninformation processing method, including obtaining, by a base station, acoverage enhancement requirement of user equipment, and communicating,by the base station, with the user equipment, according to the coverageenhancement requirement.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, the obtaining, by a base station, a coverage enhancementrequirement of user equipment specifically includes: receiving, by thebase station at a first moment, a first coverage enhancement requirementreported by the user equipment to the base station in a random accessprocess, where the first coverage enhancement requirement has firstprecision; and receiving, by the base station at a second moment afterthe first moment, a first message reported by the user equipment, andadjusting the first coverage enhancement requirement to a secondcoverage enhancement requirement according to the first message, wherethe second coverage enhancement requirement has second precision, andthe second precision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the obtaining, by a base station, a coverage enhancementrequirement of user equipment specifically includes: obtaining, by thebase station, the coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipmentaccording to a message reported by the user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect or the second possibleimplementation manner, in a third possible implementation manner, theobtaining, by the base station, the coverage enhancement requirement ofthe user equipment according to a message reported by the user equipmentspecifically includes: receiving, by the base station at a first moment,a first coverage enhancement requirement reported by the user equipmentby using a random access preamble sequence, where the first coverageenhancement requirement has first precision; and at a second momentafter the first moment according to a message reported by the userequipment at a moment between the first moment and the second moment,obtaining, by the base station, a second coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment, and generating the coverageenhancement requirement indication message, where the coverageenhancement requirement indication message is used to instruct the userequipment to adjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, the second coverage enhancementrequirement has second precision, and the second precision is higherthan the first precision.

With reference to the second aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, after thegenerating, by the base station, the coverage enhancement requirementindication message according to a message reported by the user equipmentat a moment between the first moment and the second moment, the methodfurther includes: delivering, by the base station, the coverageenhancement requirement indication message to the user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect or the fourth possibleimplementation manner, in a fifth possible implementation manner, thedelivering, by the base station, the coverage enhancement requirementindication message to the user equipment is specifically: delivering, bythe base station, the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage to the user equipment by using a random access response message.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, the communicating, by the base station, with theuser equipment according to the coverage enhancement requirement isspecifically: communicating, by the base station, with the userequipment according to signal repetition times corresponding to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the second aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value not less thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valuenot greater than the first value.

With reference to the second aspect or the seventh possibleimplementation manner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner, a coverage enhancement technology includes arequirement relaxing technology, a signal repetition technology, powerspectrum density boosting, and power boosting; and when the coveragerequirement is at a specified level, the communicating, by the basestation, with the user equipment according to the coverage enhancementrequirement is specifically: communicating, by the base stationaccording to the coverage enhancement requirement, with the userequipment by using another technology, in the coverage enhancementtechnology, except the signal repetition technology.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment further provides userequipment, including: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a coverageenhancement requirement; and a communication unit, configured tocommunicate with a base station according to the coverage enhancementrequirement.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, the user equipment further includes a storage unit, where thestorage unit is configured to: after the obtaining unit obtains thecoverage enhancement requirement, store the coverage enhancementrequirement, so that the user equipment uses the coverage enhancementrequirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the communication unit is further configured to: after theobtaining unit obtains the coverage enhancement requirement, report thecoverage enhancement requirement to the base station, so that the basestation determines the coverage enhancement requirement of theinformation processing user equipment.

With reference to the third aspect or the second possible implementationmanner, in a third possible implementation manner, the communicationunit is specifically configured to: report, at a first moment, a firstcoverage enhancement requirement to the base station in a random accessprocess, where the first coverage enhancement requirement has firstprecision; and report a first message to the base station at a secondmoment after the first moment, where the first message is used toinstruct the base station to adjust, based on the first message, thefirst coverage enhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancementrequirement, the second coverage enhancement requirement has secondprecision, and the second precision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the third aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the user equipmentfurther includes a storage unit, configured to store the second coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the secondcoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementationmanner, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to receive acoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station, and obtain the coverage enhancement requirement accordingto the coverage enhancement requirement indication message.

With reference to the third aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the communicationunit is further configured to: before the obtaining unit receives thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station, report a message to the base station, so that the basestation generates the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage according to the message reported by the user equipment.

With reference to the third aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the communicationunit is specifically configured to report a first coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station at a first moment by using a randomaccess preamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision, so that the base station generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message at a second momentafter the first moment according to a message reported by the userequipment at a moment between the first moment and the second moment,where the coverage enhancement requirement indication message is used toinstruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverage enhancementrequirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the third aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the obtaining unitis specifically configured to receive the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message delivered by the base station by using arandom access response message.

With reference to the third aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the user equipmentfurther includes a storage unit, configured to: after the obtaining unitdevice obtains the coverage enhancement requirement according to thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message, store the coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the coverageenhancement requirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a tenth possibleimplementation manner, the communication unit is specifically configuredto communicate with the base station according to signal repetitiontimes corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the third aspect or the tenth possible implementationmanner, in an eleventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

With reference to the third aspect or the eleventh possibleimplementation manner, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a thirteenthpossible implementation manner, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the communicationunit is specifically configured to communicate, according to thecoverage enhancement requirement, with the base station by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment further provides a basestation, including: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a coverageenhancement requirement of user equipment; and a communication unit,configured to communicate with the user equipment according to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to: receive, at afirst moment, a first coverage enhancement requirement reported by theuser equipment to the base station in a random access process, where thefirst coverage enhancement requirement has first precision; and receive,at a second moment, a first message reported by the user equipment, andadjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to a second coverageenhancement requirement according to the first message, where the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to obtain thecoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment according to amessage reported by the user equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the second possibleimplementation manner, in a third possible implementation manner, theobtaining unit is specifically configured to: receive, at a firstmoment, a first coverage enhancement requirement reported by the userequipment by using a random access preamble sequence, where the firstcoverage enhancement requirement has first precision; and at a secondmoment after the first moment according to a message reported by theuser equipment at a moment between the first moment and the secondmoment, obtain a second coverage enhancement requirement of the userequipment, and generate the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage, where the coverage enhancement requirement indication messageis used to instruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverageenhancement requirement to the second coverage enhancement requirement,the second coverage enhancement requirement has second precision, andthe second precision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the communicationunit is further configured to: after the obtaining unit generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message according to themessage reported by the user equipment at the moment between the firstmoment and the second moment, deliver the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message to the user equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the fourth possibleimplementation manner, in a fifth possible implementation manner, thecommunication unit is specifically configured to deliver the coverageenhancement requirement indication message to the user equipment byusing a random access response message.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, the communication unit is specifically configuredto communicate with the user equipment according to signal repetitiontimes corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the seventh possibleimplementation manner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner, a coverage enhancement technology includes arequirement relaxing technology, a signal repetition technology, powerspectrum density boosting, and power boosting; and when the coveragerequirement is at a specified level, the communication unit isspecifically configured to communicate, according to the coverageenhancement requirement, with the user equipment by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment further provides userequipment, including: a processor, configured to obtain a coverageenhancement requirement; and a transceiver, configured to communicatewith a base station according to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, the user equipment further includes a memory, where the memoryis configured to: after the processor obtains the coverage enhancementrequirement, store the coverage enhancement requirement, so that theuser equipment uses the coverage enhancement requirement in a nextrandom access process.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the transceiver is further configured to: after the processorobtains the coverage enhancement requirement, report the coverageenhancement requirement to the base station, so that the base stationdetermines the coverage enhancement requirement of the informationprocessing user equipment.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the second possible implementationmanner, in a third possible implementation manner, the transceiver isspecifically configured to: report, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement to the base station in a random access process,where the first coverage enhancement requirement has first precision;and report a first message to the base station at a second moment afterthe first moment, where the first message is used to instruct the basestation to adjust, based on the first message, the first coverageenhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement,the second coverage enhancement requirement has second precision, andthe second precision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the user equipmentfurther includes a memory, where the memory is configured to store thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment usesthe second coverage enhancement requirement in a next random accessprocess.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementationmanner, the processor is specifically configured to receive a coverageenhancement requirement indication message delivered by the basestation, and obtain the coverage enhancement requirement according tothe coverage enhancement requirement indication message.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the transceiver isfurther configured to: before the processor receives the coverageenhancement requirement indication message delivered by the basestation, report a message to the base station, so that the base stationgenerates the coverage enhancement requirement indication messageaccording to the message reported by the user equipment.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the transceiver isspecifically configured to report a first coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station at a first moment by using a randomaccess preamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision, so that the base station generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message at a second momentafter the first moment according to a message reported by the userequipment at a moment between the first moment and the second moment,where the coverage enhancement requirement indication message is used toinstruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverage enhancementrequirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the processor isspecifically configured to receive the coverage enhancement requirementindication message delivered by the base station by using a randomaccess response message.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the fifth possible implementationmanner, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the user equipmentfurther includes a memory, where the memory is configured to: after theprocessor device obtains the coverage enhancement requirement accordingto the coverage enhancement requirement indication message, store thecoverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses thecoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a tenth possibleimplementation manner, the transceiver is specifically configured tocommunicate with the base station according to signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the tenth possible implementationmanner, in an eleventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the eleventh possibleimplementation manner, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the ninth possible implementation manner, in a thirteenthpossible implementation manner, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the transceiveris specifically configured to communicate, according to the coverageenhancement requirement, with the base station by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment further provides a basestation, including: a processor, configured to obtain a coverageenhancement requirement of user equipment; and a transceiver, configuredto communicate with the user equipment according to the coverageenhancement requirement.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner, the processor is specifically configured to: receive, at a firstmoment, a first coverage enhancement requirement reported by the userequipment to the base station in a random access process, where thefirst coverage enhancement requirement has first precision; and receive,at a second moment, a first message reported by the user equipment, andadjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to a second coverageenhancement requirement according to the first message, where the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the processor is specifically configured to obtain the coverageenhancement requirement of the user equipment according to a messagereported by the user equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the second possibleimplementation manner, in a third possible implementation manner, theprocessor is specifically configured to: receive, at a first moment, afirst coverage enhancement requirement reported by the user equipment byusing a random access preamble sequence, where the first coverageenhancement requirement has first precision; and at a second momentafter the first moment according to a message reported by the userequipment at a moment between the first moment and the second moment,obtain a second coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipmentand generate the coverage enhancement requirement indication message,where the coverage enhancement requirement indication message is used toinstruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverage enhancementrequirement to the second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the third possible implementationmanner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the transceiver isfurther configured to: after the processor generates the coverageenhancement requirement indication message according to the messagereported by the user equipment at the moment between the first momentand the second moment, deliver the coverage enhancement requirementindication message to the user equipment.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the fourth possibleimplementation manner, in a fifth possible implementation manner, thetransceiver is specifically configured to deliver the coverageenhancement requirement indication message to the user equipment byusing a random access response message.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, the transceiver is specifically configured tocommunicate with the user equipment according to signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the sixth possible implementationmanner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the seventh possibleimplementation manner, in an eighth possible implementation manner, whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a specified level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis 0.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner to the fifth possible implementation manner, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner, a coverage enhancement technology includes arequirement relaxing technology, a signal repetition technology, powerspectrum density boosting, and power boosting; and when the coveragerequirement is at a specified level, the transceiver is specificallyconfigured to communicate, according to the coverage enhancementrequirement, with the user equipment by using another technology, in thecoverage enhancement technology, except the signal repetitiontechnology.

Beneficial effects of embodiments are as follows.

Because the following technical solution is used: user equipment obtainsa coverage enhancement requirement and communicates with a base stationaccording to the coverage enhancement requirement, in a case of ensuringthat the user equipment accurately communicates with the base station,the user equipment accurately communicates with the base stationaccording to the obtained coverage enhancement requirement, which avoidsa case in which the base station still adds, when communicating withuser equipment whose communication status is better, a same quantity ofcommunication resources added when communicating with user equipmentwhose communication status is poorer, thereby resolving a technicalproblem in the prior art that a waste of resources exists when a basestation communicates with user equipment, and implementing a technicaleffect of reducing a waste of resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of communication between multiple userequipments and a base station according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an information processing method on a userequipment side according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of level classification of a firstcoverage enhancement requirement according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of level classification of a secondcoverage enhancement requirement according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a format of a random access responsemessage according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of composition of a Media Access Controlprotocol data unit according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6A is a schematic structural diagram of a Media Access Controlsubheader according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6B is a schematic structural diagram of another Media AccessControl subheader according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7A is a diagram of functional modules of user equipment accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 7B is a concept diagram of hardware implementation of userequipment according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an information processing method on a basestation side according to an embodiment;

FIG. 9A is a diagram of functional modules of a base station accordingto an embodiment; and

FIG. 9B is a concept diagram of hardware implementation of a basestation according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments provide an information processing method, user equipment,and a base station, so as to resolve a technical problem in the priorart that a waste of resources exists when a base station communicateswith user equipment.

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of theembodiments clearer, the following describes the technical solutions inthe embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in theembodiments. Apparently, the described embodiments are some but not allof the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by persons ofordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments without creativeefforts shall fall within the protection scope.

The term “and/or” in this specification describes only an associationrelationship for describing associated objects and represents that threerelationships may exist. For example, A and/or B may represent thefollowing three cases: Only A exists, both A and B exist, and only Bexists. In addition, the character “/” in this specification generallyindicates an “or” relationship between the associated objects.

The following describes in detail with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

Embodiment 1

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of communicationbetween multiple user equipments and a base station according to anembodiment.

According to a first aspect, on a user equipment side, this embodimentprovides an information processing method. Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2is a flowchart of an information processing method according to anembodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the method includes the following.

S1: User equipment obtains a coverage enhancement requirement.

S2: The user equipment communicates with a base station according to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

In step S1, specifically, the user equipment may obtain the coverageenhancement requirement of the user equipment by acquiring some systemsignals of the base station, such as downlink reference signalscontinually delivered by the base station; or the user equipment mayobtain the coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment byreceiving a coverage enhancement requirement indication messagedelivered by the base station.

In this embodiment, the coverage enhancement requirement refers to anextent of coverage enhancement support required by the user equipment ina process of communicating with the base station, which can enable theuser equipment to access a network to obtain a service. For example, thecoverage enhancement requirement may be used to indicate one or severalof a coverage enhancement level, an index of a coverage enhancementlevel, signal repetition times, an index of signal repetition times, acoverage enhancement method, and an index of a coverage enhancementmethod. Certainly, in an actual application, a representation method ofthe coverage enhancement requirement is not limited herein; the coverageenhancement requirement may also be used to indicate another parameteraccording to an actual condition, so as to meet a requirement of theactual condition, and details are not described herein again.

In a specific implementation process, the coverage enhancementrequirement may be a first coverage enhancement requirement that haslower precision, or may be a second coverage enhancement requirementthat has higher precision. An example of performing coverage enhancementlevel classification on 0 dB to 15 dB is used. Referring to FIG. 3A andFIG. 3B, FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of level classification of afirst coverage enhancement requirement according to an embodiment, andFIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of level classification of a secondcoverage enhancement requirement according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3A, classification of the first coverage enhancementrequirement is: path loss≤5 dB, which is coverage enhancement level 0; 5dB<path loss≤10 dB, which is coverage enhancement level 1; and pathloss>10 dB, which is coverage enhancement level 2. In an example inwhich a coverage enhancement technology is a signal repetitiontechnology, signal repetition times corresponding to level 0 may be 5,signal repetition times corresponding to level 1 may be 10, and signalrepetition times corresponding to level 2 may be 15.

As shown in FIG. 3B, classification of the second coverage enhancementrequirement is: path loss≤1 dB, which is a coverage enhancement levellevel 0.1; 1 dB<path loss≤2 dB, which is a coverage enhancement levellevel 0.2; 2 dB<path loss≤3 dB, which is a coverage enhancement levellevel 0.3; 3 dB<path loss≤4 dB, which is a coverage enhancement levellevel 0.4; 4 dB<path loss≤5 dB, which is a coverage enhancement levellevel 0.5; . . . ; and 14 dB<path loss≤15 dB, which is a coverageenhancement level level 2.5. In an example in which a coverageenhancement technology is a signal repetition technology, signalrepetition times corresponding to level 0.1 may be 1, signal repetitiontimes corresponding to level 0.2 may be 2, signal repetition timescorresponding to level 0.3 may be 3, signal repetition timescorresponding to level 0.4 may be 4, signal repetition timescorresponding to level 0.5 may be 5, . . . , and signal repetition timescorresponding to level 2.5 may be 15.

It can be seen, by comparing signal repetition times corresponding toeach level of the first coverage enhancement requirement with thatcorresponding to each level of the second coverage enhancementrequirement, that because precision for level classification of thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is higher, if the secondcoverage enhancement requirement is used as the coverage enhancementrequirement, coverage enhancement may be more targeted, and a waste ofresources can be further reduced.

However, if the second coverage enhancement requirement is directly usedwhen a random access preamble is being sent in a random access process,a problem of an excessively high probability of a conflict occurringbetween user equipments in the random access process is caused.Specifically, the random access preamble sequence includes three typesof resources: a time domain, a frequency domain, and code division. Anexample of code division is used. If level classification is performedaccording to the first coverage enhancement requirement, all coderesources need to be classified into three parts. The user equipmentselects a proper code resource according to a measuring result of theuser equipment, to initiate a random access process, and the basestation determines, by using a received code, a coverage enhancementrequirement level to which the user equipment belongs. If codes used bytwo user equipments in a random access process are the same, the randomaccess process of the two users may be invalid. This is a problem of aconflict in a random access process. When more specific levelclassification is performed on the coverage enhancement requirement,there are more groups obtained by classifying code resources, and thereare less codes in each group; if there are less code resources in thegroup, a probability of selecting a same code by user equipments in thegroup is larger, and there are also more invalid random access processesof user equipments, so that a probability of a conflict occurringbetween the user equipments in the group in a random access process islarger.

According to two manners of obtaining a coverage enhancement message bythe user equipment, the following part specifically describes a methodabout how to use the second coverage enhancement requirement incommunication between the user equipment and the base station to furtherreduce a waste of resources, without affecting a probability of aconflict occurring between user equipments in a random access process.

In a first manner, the user equipment obtains the coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment by acquiring some system signals ofthe base station, such as downlink reference signals continuallydelivered by the base station.

After obtaining the coverage enhancement requirement of the userequipment by acquiring some system signals of the base station, the userequipment needs to further report the coverage enhancement requirementto the base station, so that the base station determines a currentcoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment.

It should be noted that, if the coverage enhancement requirementreported at this time is the first coverage enhancement requirementshown in FIG. 3A, the coverage enhancement requirement can be directlyreported. If the coverage enhancement requirement reported at this timeis the second coverage enhancement requirement shown in FIG. 3B, thecoverage enhancement requirement needs to be reported by performing thefollowing steps:

The user equipment reports, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement to the base station in a random access process,where the first coverage enhancement requirement has first precision;and the user equipment reports a first message to the base station at asecond moment after the first moment, where the first message is used toinstruct the base station to adjust, based on the first message, thefirst coverage enhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancementrequirement, the second coverage enhancement requirement has secondprecision, and the second precision is higher than the first precision.

Specifically, the user equipment may report the first coverageenhancement requirement to the base station at the first moment at thesame time when sending a random access preamble sequence, where thefirst coverage enhancement requirement may be the first coverageenhancement requirement shown in FIG. 3, the first coverage enhancementrequirement has the first precision, and 5 db is used as a level toclassify the coverage enhancement requirement.

That the user equipment reports a first message to the base station at asecond moment after the first moment may be, for example, reporting thefirst message to the base station by using a third message, that is,Msg3, in the random access process, where the first message includesindication information of adjusting the first coverage enhancementrequirement to the second coverage enhancement requirement. Certainly,the user equipment may also report the first message to the base stationby using another newly-defined dedicated message, which is not limitedherein.

After receiving, at the second moment, the first message reported by theuser equipment, the base station may adjust the first coverageenhancement requirement to the second coverage enhancement requirement,where the second coverage enhancement requirement may be the secondcoverage enhancement requirement shown in FIG. 3B, the second coverageenhancement requirement has the second precision, and 1 db is used as alevel to classify the coverage enhancement requirement.

In an actual application, the first message may indicate a relativevalue for adjusting the first coverage enhancement requirement to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, that is, the first message isused to instruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverageenhancement requirement to obtain the second coverage enhancementrequirement. For example, the first coverage enhancement requirementreported by the user equipment at the first moment is at level 0, and ifthe first message indicates a coverage enhancement requirement level 2,the base station may determine that the second coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment is at level 0.2. Certainly, the firstmessage may also indicate an absolute value for adjusting the firstcoverage enhancement requirement to the second coverage enhancementrequirement, that is, the first message directly indicates the secondcoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment. For example,whether the first coverage enhancement requirement reported by the userequipment at the first moment is at level 0 or level 1, if the firstmessage indicates a coverage enhancement requirement level 2, the basestation may determine that the second coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment is at level 0.2.

It can be seen from the foregoing part, that after user equipmentreports a second coverage enhancement requirement to a base station, thebase station can determine that a coverage enhancement requirement ofthe user equipment is the second coverage enhancement requirement whoseprecision is higher than first precision of a first coverage enhancementrequirement, and communicate with the user equipment according to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, thereby further reducing awaste of resources.

Certainly, after the user equipment reports the second coverageenhancement requirement to the base station, the user equipment mayfurther store the second coverage enhancement requirement, so that theuser equipment uses the second coverage enhancement requirement in anext random access process, for example, may use the second coverageenhancement requirement when sending a random access preamble sequencenext time, which is certainly not limited herein in an actualapplication, for example, may further use the second coverageenhancement requirement when sending a data channel signal or sending acontrol channel signal. Details are not described herein again. It canbe seen that because the following technical solution is used: thecoverage enhancement requirement used by the user equipment incommunication with the base station is stored, so that the userequipment uses the coverage enhancement requirement in a next randomaccess process, the user equipment can quickly and accurately obtain thecoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment in the nextrandom access process, thereby further reducing a waste of resources.

In a second manner, the user equipment receives a coverage enhancementrequirement indication message delivered by the base station, so as toobtain the coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment.

Specifically, the user equipment may report a message to the basestation, so that the base station can generate the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message according to the message reported by theuser equipment, and deliver the generated coverage enhancementrequirement indication message to the user equipment; the user equipmentmay receive the coverage enhancement requirement indication message, soas to obtain the coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment.The coverage enhancement requirement herein may be only the firstcoverage enhancement requirement, or may include the second coverageenhancement requirement, which is not limited herein.

It should be noted that the message reported by the user equipment tothe base station may include some particular uplink reference messages,and the messages are only used for measurement and the like by the basestation, but another piece of useful information may not be reported,which is not limited herein.

Specifically, the user equipment may report a first coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station at a first moment by using a randomaccess preamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision, and the first coverage enhancementrequirement may be the first coverage enhancement requirement shown inFIG. 3A, so that at a second moment after the first moment according toa message reported by the user equipment at a moment between the firstmoment and the second moment, the base station obtains a second coverageenhancement requirement of the user equipment, and generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message used to instruct theuser equipment to adjust the first coverage enhancement requirement tothe second coverage enhancement requirement, where the second coverageenhancement requirement has second precision, and the second precisionis higher than the first precision of the first coverage enhancementrequirement. The second coverage enhancement requirement may be thesecond coverage enhancement requirement shown in FIG. 3B.

Certainly, in an actual application, the user equipment may not reportthe first coverage enhancement requirement, instead, start to report amessage from the first moment, so that at the second moment after thefirst moment according to the message reported by the user equipment atthe moment between the first moment and the second moment, the basestation can obtain the second coverage enhancement requirement of theuser equipment, and generate a coverage enhancement requirementindication message, where the coverage enhancement requirementindication message can indicate that the coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment is the second coverage enhancementrequirement. The second coverage enhancement requirement may be thesecond coverage enhancement requirement shown in FIG. 3B. It should benoted that, when generating the coverage enhancement requirementindication message according to the message reported by the userequipment, the base station may learn, by means of measurement andaccording to some messages instead of all messages reported at themoment between the first moment and the second moment, the coverageenhancement requirement required by the user equipment, so as togenerate the coverage enhancement requirement indication message.Details are not described herein again.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment may receive thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station by using a random access response (RAR) message.

For example, referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of aformat of a random access response message according to an embodiment.As shown in FIG. 4, each random access response message includes onereserved (R) bit. Further, referring to FIG. 5, a Media Access Controlprotocol data unit (MAC PDU) configured to carry a random accessresponse message includes one Media Access Control header (MAC header)and several random access response messages. One Media Access Controlheader includes several Media Access Control subheaders (MAC subheader)shown in FIG. 6A, where the Media Access Control subheader shown in FIG.6A does not include a reserved information bit, and includes at most oneMedia Access Control subheader shown in FIG. 6B, and the Media AccessControl subheader shown in FIG. 6B includes two reserved informationbits.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6A, and FIG. 6B at the same time, ifone Media Access Control protocol data unit includes n random accessresponse messages, the entire Media Access Control protocol data unitincludes M reserved information bits, where n≤M≤n+2, n is an integergreater than or equal to 1, and M is a positive integer.

When the base station transfers the coverage enhancement requirement tothe user equipment by using the random access response message, thefollowing two manners may be used:

Manner 1: The base station delivers the coverage enhancement requirementindication message based on a first coverage enhancement requirementreported by the user equipment, where the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message may be an absolute value, that is,regardless of a level value of first coverage enhancement of the userequipment, the coverage enhancement requirement indication messagedirectly indicates a second coverage enhancement requirement of the userequipment. For example, whether the first coverage enhancementrequirement reported by the user equipment is at level 0 or level 1, ifa level of the second coverage enhancement requirement indicated by thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station is 5, the user equipment determines, according to thecoverage enhancement requirement, that a coverage enhancement level islevel 0.5.

Manner 2: The base station delivers the coverage enhancement requirementindication message based on a first coverage enhancement requirementreported by the user equipment, where the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message may be a relative value, that is,regardless of a level value of first coverage enhancement of the userequipment, the coverage enhancement requirement indication messagedirectly indicates a second coverage enhancement requirement of the userequipment. For example, the first coverage enhancement requirementreported by the user is at level 1, and the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message delivered by the base station is −2, theuser equipment may determine, according to the first coverageenhancement requirement and the coverage enhancement requirementindication message, that a level of the coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment is level 0.4 obtained by subtracting two levelsfrom level 1; and if the base station delivers a level 2, the terminalconsiders a coverage enhancement level of the terminal to be level 1.2obtained by adding two levels to level 1. In this manner, an informationbit of one bit may indicate two relative values of the second level, forexample, 0 indicates a coverage enhancement level plus (minus) onelevel, and 1 indicates a coverage enhancement level plus (minus) twolevels. The information bit of one bit may also indicate an adjustmentdirection of a coverage enhancement level, for example, if the basestation delivers 0, the terminal considers that the coverage enhancementlevel of the terminal needs to be adjusted downward by one level; and ifthe base station delivers 1, the terminal considers that the coverageenhancement level of the terminal needs to be adjusted upward by onelevel.

In a specific implementation process, if one Medium Access Controlheader does not include one Medium Access Control subheader shown inFIG. 6B, the entire Medium Access Control protocol data unit includes nreserved information bits, where at least one reserved information bitmay be used. If the Medium Access Control protocol data unit includesone reserved information bit, the coverage enhancement requirement maybe transferred to the user equipment in the Manner 1 or Manner 2described above. If the Medium Access Control protocol data unitincludes n random access response messages, the Medium Access Controlprotocol data unit includes n reserved information bits. No matterwhether coverage enhancement requirements that are of user equipmentsand corresponding to the n random access response messages are the same,the n reserved information bits may be jointly used. For example, tworeserved information bits may indicate four relative values or absolutevalues of a level of the second coverage enhancement requirement; or oneof the reserved information bits indicates an adjustment direction of arelative value, and the other reserved information bit is used toindicate an adjustment value, so that the coverage enhancementrequirement is transferred to the user equipment. For more cases of thereserved information bit, details are not described again.

In a specific implementation process, if one Medium Access Controlheader includes one Medium Access Control subheader shown in FIG. 6A,the entire Medium Access Control protocol data unit includes n+2reserved information bits, where at least three reserved informationbits may be used, so that the coverage enhancement requirement may betransferred to the user equipment by jointly using the at least threereserved information bits. A specific process is the same as theforegoing process, and details are not described herein again.

Certainly, in addition to transferring the coverage enhancementrequirement to the user equipment by using a reserved information bit ofthe random access response message, the coverage enhancement requirementmay be transferred to the user equipment by using a newly addedinformation bit of the random access response message.

It can be seen that it is absolutely no problem that the base stationadds the coverage enhancement requirement indication message to therandom access response message and delivers the random access responsemessage to the user equipment, so as to transfer the second coverageenhancement requirement to the user equipment. After receiving thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station by using the random access response message, the userequipment can obtain the coverage enhancement requirement according tothe coverage enhancement requirement indication message.

In a specific implementation process, after the user equipment obtainsthe coverage enhancement requirement according to the coverageenhancement requirement indication message delivered by the base stationby using the random access response message, the user equipment mayfurther store the coverage enhancement requirement, so that the userequipment uses the coverage enhancement requirement in a next randomaccess process, where the coverage enhancement requirement herein may bethe first coverage enhancement requirement or may be the second coverageenhancement requirement, which is not limited herein. For example, theuser equipment may use the coverage enhancement requirement when sendinga random access preamble sequence next time, so that the user equipmentquickly and accurately determines the coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment in a next random access process.

After the coverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment isobtained in step S1, step S2 in the information processing methodprovided in this embodiment is executed, that is, the user equipmentcommunicates with the base station according to the coverage enhancementrequirement.

In step S2, specifically, if the coverage enhancement requirementindicates a coverage enhancement level of the user equipment, and theuser equipment and the base station predefine coverage enhancementtechnologies used for different coverage enhancement levels, the userequipment communicates with the base station by using a correspondingcoverage enhancement technology and according to the coverageenhancement level indicated by the coverage enhancement requirement. Itshould be noted that the coverage enhancement requirement in step S2 maybe the first coverage enhancement requirement described in the step S1or may be the second coverage enhancement requirement, which is notlimited herein.

For example, if the coverage enhancement requirement is at a firstlevel, the coverage enhancement requirement may indicate that thecoverage enhancement level of the user equipment is the first level; ifa coverage enhancement technology that is predefined by the userequipment and the base station and used for the first level is a signalrepetition technology, the user equipment communicates with the basestation according to signal repletion times corresponding to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

The signal repletion technology may be used to perform repetition on afrequency domain resource, that is, to send a same signal on multiplefrequency domain resources at a same moment; or perform repetition on atime domain resource, that is, repeatedly send signals on a samefrequency domain resource at different moments (which may be consecutivemoments), so that the user equipment can accurately communicate with thebase station.

Certainly, in an actual application, in addition to the signalrepetition technology, the coverage enhancement technology may include arequirement relaxing technology, a power spectrum density boosting (PSDboosting) technology, a power boosting (PB) technology, and the like.The requirement relaxing technology means that in a case in which arandom access process of the user equipment does not succeed, the userequipment is allowed to try for more times, so that the user equipmentcan accurately communicate with the base station. The power spectrumdensity boosting technology means, for example, that three resources areallocated to the user equipment for sending a message, but currently,only one resource is used for sending, and the other two resources areidle; in this case, power originally used for sending information on thethree resources is centralized on the one resource to perform sending,so as to achieve a purpose of increasing transmit power on the oneresource, so that the user equipment can accurately communicate with thebase station. The power boosting technology means, for example, that thebase station originally sends signals to user equipment A and userequipment B at the same time, but currently, the base station does notsend a signal to the user equipment B, and superimposes power of thesignal originally sent to the user equipment on power of a signal sentto the user equipment A, so as to increase the transmit power of thesignal sent to user equipment A, so that the user equipment canaccurately communicate with the base station. It should be noted thatthe coverage enhancement technology in this embodiment is not limited tothe described several technologies, or may be another technology thatcan be used by persons skilled in the art.

That is, for same user equipment, the user equipment accuratelycommunicates with the base station according to a difference ofenvironments in which the user equipment is located and according tosignal repetition times corresponding to coverage enhancementrequirements in the environments. For different user equipments, theuser equipments accurately communicate with the base station accordingto signal repetition times corresponding to coverage enhancementrequirements of the user equipments.

In a specific implementation process, to ensure accuracy ofcommunication between the user equipment and the base station, ifdifferent coverage enhancement compensations need to be obtained for twocoverage enhancement requirements of different levels by using thesignal repetition technology, signal repetition times corresponding tothe coverage enhancement requirements of different levels also need tobe different. Therefore, when a coverage enhancement requirement is at afirst level, signal repetition times corresponding to the coverageenhancement requirement is a first value, for example, may be 6; whenthe coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higher thanthe first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to the secondcoverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater than thefirst value, for example, may be 7; and when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a third level lower than the first level, the signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis a third value less than the first value, for example, may be 5.

It can be seen that because the following technical solution is used:when a coverage enhancement requirement is at a first level, signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirementis a first value; when a coverage enhancement requirement is at a secondlevel higher than the first level, signal repetition times correspondingto the second coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greaterthan the first value; and when a coverage enhancement requirement is ata third level lower than the first level, signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value, it is avoided that signal repetition timescorresponding to two coverage enhancement requirements of differentlevels are the same, thereby ensuring accuracy of communication betweenthe user equipment and the base station.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, and a status of communicationbetween the user equipment and the base station is quite good, thesignal repetition technology is not required to ensure accuratecommunication between the user equipment and the base station.Therefore, signal repetition times corresponding to the coverageenhancement requirement of the specified level may be set to 0, anddetails are not described herein again.

Certainly, when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a specifiedlevel, and a status of communication between the user equipment and thebase station is not quite good, the coverage enhancement technologyneeds to be used to ensure accurate communication between the userequipment and the base station. However, the user equipment needs tocommunicate with the base station only by using another technology, inthe coverage enhancement technology described above, except the signalrepetition technology, without using the signal repetition technology,and details are not described herein again. It should be noted that, thespecified level described herein may be the same as or different fromthe specified level, of the coverage enhancement requirementcorresponding to the signal repetition times 0, in the foregoing part.

It can be seen from the foregoing part, that because the followingtechnical solution is used: user equipment obtains a coverageenhancement requirement and communicates with a base station accordingto the coverage enhancement requirement, in a case of ensuring that theuser equipment accurately communicates with the base station, the userequipment accurately communicates with the base station according to theobtained coverage enhancement requirement, which avoids a case in whichthe base station still adds, when communicating with user equipmentwhose communication status is better, a same quantity of communicationresources added when communicating with user equipment whosecommunication status is poorer, thereby resolving a technical problem inthe prior art that a waste of resources exists when a base stationcommunicates with user equipment, and implementing a technical effect ofreducing a waste of resources.

In a specific implementation process, in order that the user equipmentcan quickly and accurately obtain the coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment in a next random access process to ensure accuratecommunication with the base station, after the user equipmentcommunicates with the base station according to the coverage enhancementrequirement, the information processing method provided in thisembodiment further includes: the user equipment stores the coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the coverageenhancement requirement in a next random access process. It should benoted that the coverage enhancement requirement herein may be a firstcoverage enhancement requirement, or may be a second coverageenhancement requirement, which is not limited herein.

For example, after accurately communicating with the base stationaccording to the obtained coverage enhancement requirement, the userequipment stores the coverage enhancement requirement, so that the userequipment directly uses the coverage enhancement requirement wheninitiating a random access process next time. For example, wheninitiating a random access process, the user equipment reports a randomaccess preamble sequence by using the stored coverage enhancementrequirement, so as to ensure that the user equipment accuratelycommunicates with the base station.

Based on a similar idea, one aspect of this embodiment further providesuser equipment. Referring to FIG. 7A, FIG. 7A is a diagram of functionalmodules of user equipment according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG.7A, the user equipment includes: an obtaining unit 701, configured toobtain a coverage enhancement requirement; and a communication unit 702,configured to communicate with a base station according to the coverageenhancement requirement.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a storage unit, where the storage unit is configured to: afterthe obtaining unit obtains the coverage enhancement requirement, storethe coverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment usesthe coverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 702 isfurther configured to: after the obtaining unit 701 obtains the coverageenhancement requirement, report the coverage enhancement requirement tothe base station, so that the base station determines the coverageenhancement requirement of the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 702 isspecifically configured to: report, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement to the base station in a random access process,where the first coverage enhancement requirement has first precision;and report a first message to the base station at a second moment afterthe first moment, where the first message is used to instruct the basestation to adjust, based on the first message, the first coverageenhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement,the second coverage enhancement requirement has second precision, andthe second precision is higher than the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a storage unit, configured to store the second coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the secondcoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

In a specific implementation process, the obtaining unit 701 isspecifically configured to receive a coverage enhancement requirementindication message delivered by the base station, and obtain thecoverage enhancement requirement according to the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 702 isfurther configured to: before the obtaining unit 701 receives thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message delivered by thebase station, report a message to the base station, so that the basestation generates the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage according to the message reported by the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 702 isspecifically configured to report a first coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station at a first moment by using a randomaccess preamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision, so that the base station generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message at a second momentafter the first moment according to a message reported by the userequipment at a moment between the first moment and the second moment,where the coverage enhancement requirement indication message is used toinstruct the user equipment to adjust the first coverage enhancementrequirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the obtaining unit 701 isspecifically configured to receive the coverage enhancement requirementindication message delivered by the base station by using a randomaccess response message.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a storage unit, configured to: after the obtaining unit 701obtains the coverage enhancement requirement according to the coverageenhancement requirement indication message, store the coverageenhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses the coverageenhancement requirement in a next random access process.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 702 isspecifically configured to communicate with the base station accordingto signal repetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancementrequirement.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is 0.

In a specific implementation process, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the communicationunit 702 is specifically configured to communicate, according to thecoverage enhancement requirement, with the base station by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

Further, referring to FIG. 7B, FIG. 7B is a concept diagram of hardwareimplementation of user equipment according to an embodiment. As shown inFIG. 7B, the user equipment includes: a processor 71, configured toobtain a coverage enhancement requirement; and a transceiver 72,configured to communicate with a base station according to the coverageenhancement requirement.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a memory 73, where the memory 73 is configured to: after theprocessor 71 obtains the coverage enhancement requirement, store thecoverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses thecoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

Still referring to FIG. 7B, there is a bus architecture (represented bya bus 700). The bus 700 may include any quantity of interconnected busesand bridges, and the bus 700 links various types of circuits thatinclude one or more processors represented by the processor 71 and amemory represented by the memory 73 together. The bus 700 may furtherlink various other types of circuits such as a peripheral device, avoltage stabilizer, and a power management circuit together. Thesevarious other types of circuits are publicly known in the art, andtherefore are not further described in this specification. A businterface 74 provides an interface between the bus 700 and thetransceiver 72, so as to provide a unit configured to communicate withvarious other apparatuses or devices on a transmission medium, where thetransceiver 72 may be a same component or apparatus, or may be jointlycomposed of a receiver and a transmitter, which is not limited herein.The user equipment may further provide a user interface 75, such as akeypad, a display, a loudspeaker, a microphone, and a joystick accordingto a property of the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 72 is furtherconfigured to: after the processor 71 obtains the coverage enhancementrequirement, report the coverage enhancement requirement to the basestation, so that the base station determines the coverage enhancementrequirement of the information processing user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 72 is specificallyconfigured to: report, at a first moment, a first coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station in a random access process, where thefirst coverage enhancement requirement has first precision; and report afirst message to the base station at a second moment after the firstmoment, where the first message is used to instruct the base station toadjust, based on the first message, the first coverage enhancementrequirement to a second coverage enhancement requirement, the secondcoverage enhancement requirement has second precision, and the secondprecision is higher than the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a memory 73, where the memory 73 is configured to store thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment usesthe second coverage enhancement requirement in a next random accessprocess.

In a specific implementation process, the processor 71 is specificallyconfigured to receive a coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage delivered by the base station, and obtain the coverageenhancement requirement according to the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 72 is furtherconfigured to: before the processor 71 receives the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message delivered by the base station, report amessage to the base station, so that the base station generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message according to themessage reported by the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 72 is specificallyconfigured to report a first coverage enhancement requirement to thebase station at a first moment by using a random access preamblesequence, where the first coverage enhancement requirement has firstprecision, so that the base station generates the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message at a second moment after the first momentaccording to a message reported by the user equipment at a momentbetween the first moment and the second moment, where the coverageenhancement requirement indication message is used to instruct the userequipment to adjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to asecond coverage enhancement requirement, the second coverage enhancementrequirement has second precision, and the second precision is higherthan the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the processor 71 is specificallyconfigured to receive the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage delivered by the base station by using a random access responsemessage.

In a specific implementation process, the user equipment furtherincludes a memory 73, where the memory 73 is configured to: after theprocessor 71 obtains the coverage enhancement requirement according tothe coverage enhancement requirement indication message, store thecoverage enhancement requirement, so that the user equipment uses thecoverage enhancement requirement in a next random access process.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 72 is specificallyconfigured to communicate with the base station according to signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is 0.

In a specific implementation process, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the transceiver72 is specifically configured to communicate, according to the coverageenhancement requirement, with the base station by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

The user equipment in this embodiment and the information processingmethod in the foregoing part are two aspects based on a similar idea,the implementation process of the method is described in detail in theforegoing part, and therefore, persons skilled in the prior art mayclearly understand a structure and an implementation process of the userequipment in this embodiment according to the foregoing description. Forbrief of this specification, details are not described herein again.

Embodiment 1 describes the technical solution of the on a user equipmentside, and Embodiment 2 in the following describes the technical solutionof the embodiment on a base station side.

Embodiment 2

Referring to FIG. 8, this embodiment further provides an informationprocessing method. As shown in FIG. 8, the information processing methodincludes the following.

S1: A base station obtains a coverage enhancement requirement of userequipment.

S2: The base station communicates with the user equipment according tothe coverage enhancement requirement.

In step S1, the base station may obtain the coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment in two manners, which are separatelydescribed in the following part.

Manner 1.

The base station receives, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement reported by the user equipment to the basestation in a random access process, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision; and the base station receives, at asecond moment after the first moment, a first message reported by theuser equipment, and adjusts the first coverage enhancement requirementto a second coverage enhancement requirement according to the firstmessage, where the second coverage enhancement requirement has secondprecision, and the second precision is higher than the first precision.A specific process of Manner 1 is described in detail in Embodiment 1,and therefore, for the specific process of Manner 1, reference is madeto the corresponding part in Embodiment 1, and details are not describedherein again.

Manner 2: The base station obtains the coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment according to a message reported by the userequipment.

Specifically, Manner 2 may include: the base station receives, at afirst moment, a first coverage enhancement requirement reported by theuser equipment by using a random access preamble sequence, where thefirst coverage enhancement requirement has first precision; and at asecond moment after the first moment according to a message reported bythe user equipment at a moment between the first moment and the secondmoment, the base station obtains a second coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment, and generates a coverage enhancementrequirement indication message, where the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message is used to instruct the user equipment toadjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to the second coverageenhancement requirement, the second coverage enhancement requirement hassecond precision, and the second precision is higher than the firstprecision.

A specific process of Manner 2 is described in detail in Embodiment 1,and therefore, for the specific process of Manner 2, reference is madeto the corresponding part in Embodiment 1, and details are not describedherein again.

In a specific implementation process, in order that the user equipmentcan determine the coverage enhancement requirement obtained by the basestation, after the base station generates the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message according to the message reported by theuser equipment at the moment between the first moment and the secondmoment, the method provided in this embodiment may further include: thebase station delivers the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage to the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the base station delivers thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message to the userequipment by using a random access response message.

A specific process of delivering the coverage enhancement requirementindication message to the user equipment by the base station by usingthe random access response message is described in detail in Embodiment1, and details are not described herein again.

In a specific implementation process, after the base station obtains thecoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment and delivers thecoverage enhancement requirement to the user equipment by using thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message, if the coverageenhancement requirement indicates that a coverage enhancement technologyused by the user equipment is a signal repetition technology, the basestation may communicate with the user equipment according to signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement,and details are not described herein again.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is 0.

In a specific implementation process, the coverage enhancementtechnology includes a requirement relaxing technology, a signalrepetition technology, power spectrum density boosting, and powerboosting.

When the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the base stationcommunicates with the user equipment according to the coverageenhancement requirement is specifically: the base station communicates,according to the coverage enhancement requirement, with the userequipment by using another technology, in the coverage enhancementtechnology, except the signal repetition technology.

Based on a similar idea, one aspect of this embodiment further providesa base station. Referring to FIG. 9A, FIG. 9A is a diagram of functionalmodules of a base station according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG.9A, the base station includes: an obtaining unit 901, configured toobtain a coverage enhancement requirement of user equipment; and acommunication unit 902, configured to communicate with the userequipment according to the coverage enhancement requirement.

In a specific implementation process, the obtaining unit 901 isspecifically configured to: receive, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement reported by the user equipment to the basestation in a random access process, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision; and receive, at a second moment, afirst message reported by the user equipment, and adjust the firstcoverage enhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancementrequirement according to the first message, where the second coverageenhancement requirement has second precision, and the second precisionis higher than the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the obtaining unit 901 isspecifically configured to obtain the coverage enhancement requirementof the user equipment according to a message reported by the userequipment.

In a specific implementation process, the obtaining unit 901 isspecifically configured to: receive, at a first moment, a first coverageenhancement requirement reported by the user equipment by using a randomaccess preamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancementrequirement has first precision; and at a second moment after the firstmoment according to a message reported by the user equipment at a momentbetween the first moment and the second moment, obtain a second coverageenhancement requirement of the user equipment, and generate a coverageenhancement requirement indication message, where the coverageenhancement requirement indication message is used to instruct the userequipment to adjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement, the second coverage enhancementrequirement has second precision, and the second precision is higherthan the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 902 isfurther configured to: after the obtaining unit 901 generates thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message according to themessage reported by the user equipment at the moment between the firstmoment and the second moment, deliver the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message to the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 902 isspecifically configured to deliver the coverage enhancement requirementindication message to the user equipment by using a random accessresponse message.

In a specific implementation process, the communication unit 902 isspecifically configured to communicate with the user equipment accordingto signal repetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancementrequirement.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is 0.

In a specific implementation process, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the communicationunit 902 is specifically configured to communicate, according to thecoverage enhancement requirement, with the user equipment by usinganother technology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except thesignal repetition technology.

Still referring to FIG. 9B, FIG. 9B is a concept diagram of hardwareimplementation of a base station according to an embodiment. As shown inFIG. 9B, the base station includes: a processor 91, configured to obtaina coverage enhancement requirement of user equipment; and a transceiver92, configured to communicate with the user equipment according to thecoverage enhancement requirement.

Still referring to FIG. 9B, there is a bus architecture (represented bya bus 900). The bus 900 may include any quantity of interconnected busesand bridges, and the bus 900 links various types of circuits thatinclude one or more processors represented by the processor 91 and amemory represented by a memory 93 together, where the memory 93 may beconfigured to store data used when the processor 91 performs anoperation. The bus 900 may further link various other types of circuitssuch as a peripheral device, a voltage stabilizer, and a powermanagement circuit together. These various other types of circuits arepublicly known in the art, and therefore are not further described inthis specification. A bus interface 94 provides an interface between thebus 900 and the transceiver 92, so as to provide a unit configured tocommunicate with various other apparatuses or devices on a transmissionmedium, where the transceiver 92 may be a same component or apparatus,or may be jointly composed of a receiver and a transmitter, which is notlimited herein. The user equipment may further provide a user interface95, such as a keypad, a display, a loudspeaker, a microphone, and ajoystick according to a property of the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the processor 91 is specificallyconfigured to: receive, at a first moment, a first coverage enhancementrequirement reported by the user equipment to the base station in arandom access process, where the first coverage enhancement requirementhas first precision; and receive, at a second moment, a first messagereported by the user equipment, and adjust the first coverageenhancement requirement to a second coverage enhancement requirementaccording to the first message, where the second coverage enhancementrequirement has second precision, and the second precision is higherthan the first precision.

In a specific implementation process, the processor 91 is specificallyconfigured to obtain the coverage enhancement requirement of the userequipment according to a message reported by the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the processor 91 is specificallyconfigured to: receive, at a first moment, a first coverage enhancementrequirement reported by the user equipment by using a random accesspreamble sequence, where the first coverage enhancement requirement hasfirst precision; and at a second moment after the first moment accordingto a message reported by the user equipment at a moment between thefirst moment and the second moment, obtain a second coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment, and generate a coverage enhancementrequirement indication message, where the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message is used to instruct the user equipment toadjust the first coverage enhancement requirement to the second coverageenhancement requirement, the second coverage enhancement requirement hassecond precision, and the second precision is higher than the firstprecision.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 92 is furtherconfigured to: after the processor 91 generates the coverage enhancementrequirement indication message according to the message reported by theuser equipment at the moment between the first moment and the secondmoment, deliver the coverage enhancement requirement indication messageto the user equipment.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 92 is specificallyconfigured to deliver the coverage enhancement requirement indicationmessage to the user equipment by using a random access response message.

In a specific implementation process, the transceiver 92 is specificallyconfigured to communicate with the user equipment according to signalrepetition times corresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, the signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value.

In a specific implementation process, when the coverage enhancementrequirement is at a specified level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is 0.

In a specific implementation process, a coverage enhancement technologyincludes a requirement relaxing technology, a signal repetitiontechnology, power spectrum density boosting, and power boosting; andwhen the coverage requirement is at a specified level, the transceiver92 is specifically configured to communicate, according to the coverageenhancement requirement, with the user equipment by using anothertechnology, in the coverage enhancement technology, except the signalrepetition technology.

The base station in this embodiment and the information processingmethod in the foregoing part are two aspects based on a similar idea,the implementation process of the method is described in detail in theforegoing part, and therefore, persons skilled in the prior art mayclearly understand a structure and an implementation process of theinformation processing apparatus in this embodiment according to theforegoing description. For brief of this specification, details are notdescribed herein again.

One or more embodiments may implement the following technical effects.

1. Because the following technical solution is used: user equipmentobtains a coverage enhancement requirement and communicates with a basestation according to the coverage enhancement requirement, in a case ofensuring that the user equipment accurately communicates with the basestation, the user equipment accurately communicates with the basestation according to the obtained coverage enhancement requirement,which avoids a case in which the base station still adds, whencommunicating with user equipment whose communication status is better,a same quantity of communication resources added when communicating withuser equipment whose communication status is poorer, thereby resolving atechnical problem in the prior art that a waste of resources exists whena base station communicates with user equipment, and implementing atechnical effect of reducing a waste of resources.

2. After the user equipment reports a second coverage enhancementrequirement to the base station, the base station can determine that acoverage enhancement requirement of the user equipment is the secondcoverage enhancement requirement whose precision is higher than firstprecision of a first coverage enhancement requirement, and communicatewith the user equipment according to the second coverage enhancementrequirement, thereby further reducing a waste of resources.

3. Because the following technical solution is used: the coverageenhancement requirement used by the user equipment in communication withthe base station is stored, so that the user equipment uses the coverageenhancement requirement in a next random access process, the userequipment can quickly and accurately obtain the coverage enhancementrequirement of the user equipment in the next random access process,thereby further reducing a waste of resources.

4. Because the following technical solution is used: when the coverageenhancement requirement is at a first level, signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a first value;when the coverage enhancement requirement is at a second level higherthan the first level, signal repetition times corresponding to thesecond coverage enhancement requirement is a second value greater thanthe first value; and when the coverage enhancement requirement is at athird level lower than the first level, the signal repetition timescorresponding to the coverage enhancement requirement is a third valueless than the first value, it is avoided that signal repetition timescorresponding to two coverage enhancement requirements of differentlevels are the same, thereby ensuring accuracy of communication betweenthe user equipment and the base station.

Persons skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments may beprovided as a method, a system, or a computer program product.Therefore, embodiments may use a form of hardware only embodiments,software only embodiments, or embodiments with a combination of softwareand hardware. Moreover, embodiments may use a form of a computer programproduct that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media(including but not limited to a disk memory, a compact disc read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), an optical memory, and the like) that includecomputer-usable program code.

The present embodiments are described with reference to the flowchartsand/or block diagrams of the method, the device (system), and thecomputer program product according to the embodiments. It should beunderstood that computer program instructions may be used to implementeach process and/or each block in the flowcharts and/or the blockdiagrams and a combination of a process and/or a block in the flowchartsand/or the block diagrams. These computer program instructions may beprovided for a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, anembedded processor, or a processor of any other programmable dataprocessing device to generate a machine, so that the instructionsexecuted by a computer or a processor of any other programmable dataprocessing device generate an apparatus for implementing a specificfunction in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one ormore blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable memory that can instruct the computer or any other programmabledata processing device to work in a specific manner, so that theinstructions stored in the computer readable memory generate an artifactthat includes an instruction apparatus. The instruction apparatusimplements a specific function in one or more processes in theflowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computeror another programmable data processing device, so that a series ofoperations and steps are performed on the computer or the anotherprogrammable device, thereby generating computer-implemented processing.Therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or the anotherprogrammable device provide steps for implementing a specific functionin one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocksin the block diagrams.

Although some embodiments have been described, persons skilled in theart can make changes and modifications to these embodiments once theylearn the basic inventive concept. Therefore, the following claims areintended to be construed as to cover the embodiments and all changes andmodifications falling within the scope.

Obviously, persons skilled in the art can make various modifications andvariations to the embodiments without departing from the spirit andscope of the embodiments. The embodiments are intended to cover thesemodifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope ofprotection defined by the following claims and their equivalenttechnologies.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: sending, by a terminal to abase station, a random access preamble sequence using a first number ofsignal repetition, the first number of signal repetition correspondingto a first coverage enhancement level, wherein the first coverageenhancement level is a coverage enhancement level of a first number ofcoverage enhancement levels; receiving, by the terminal from the basestation, a coverage enhancement requirement indication message, whereinthe coverage enhancement requirement indication message indicates asecond number of signal repetition corresponding to a second coverageenhancement level, wherein the second coverage enhancement level is acoverage enhancement level of a second number of coverage enhancementlevels; and communicating, by the terminal with the base station,according to the second number of signal repetition.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first number of coverage enhancementlevels corresponds to a first precision, and the second number ofcoverage enhancement levels corresponds to a second precision.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the second number of coverageenhancement levels is greater than the first number of coverageenhancement levels.
 4. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: sending, by the terminal to the base station, an uplinkreference message, wherein the coverage enhancement requirementindication message is generated based on the uplink reference message.5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, bythe base station from the terminal, an uplink reference message, whereinthe coverage enhancement requirement indication message is sent based onthe uplink reference message.
 6. An apparatus, comprising: a processor;and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to theprocessor and storing programming instructions for execution by theprocessor, the programming instructions including instructions for:sending, to a base station, a random access preamble sequence using afirst number of signal repetition, the first number of signal repetitioncorresponding to a first coverage enhancement level, wherein the firstcoverage enhancement level is a coverage enhancement level of a firstnumber of coverage enhancement levels; receiving, from the base station,a coverage enhancement requirement indication message, wherein thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message indicates a secondnumber of signal repetition corresponding to a second coverageenhancement level, wherein the second coverage enhancement level is acoverage enhancement level of a second number of coverage enhancementlevels; and communicating with the base station according to the secondnumber of signal repetition.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6,wherein the first number of coverage enhancement levels corresponds to afirst precision, and the second number of coverage enhancement levelscorresponds to a second precision.
 8. The apparatus according to claim6, wherein the second number of coverage enhancement levels is greaterthan the first number of coverage enhancement levels.
 9. The apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the programming instructions furtherinclude instructions for: sending, to the base station, an uplinkreference message, wherein the coverage enhancement requirementindication message is generated based on the uplink reference message.10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions tobe executed by a processor, wherein the instructions compriseinstructions for: sending, to a base station, a random access preamblesequence using a first number of signal repetition, the first number ofsignal repetition corresponding to a first coverage enhancement level,wherein the first coverage enhancement level is one of a first number ofcoverage enhancement levels; receiving, from the base station, acoverage enhancement requirement indication message, wherein thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message indicates a secondnumber of signal repetition corresponding to a second coverageenhancement level, wherein the second coverage enhancement level is oneof a second number of coverage enhancement levels; and communicatingwith the base station according to the second number of signalrepetition.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according toclaim 10, wherein the first number of coverage enhancement levelscorresponds to a first precision, and the second number of coverageenhancement levels corresponds to a second precision.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10, whereinthe second number of coverage enhancement levels is greater than thefirst number of coverage enhancement levels.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the instructionsfurther comprise instructions for: sending, to the base station, anuplink reference message, wherein the coverage enhancement requirementindication message is generated based on the uplink reference message.14. A method, comprising: receiving, by a base station from a terminal,a random access preamble sequence using a first number of signalrepetition, the first number of signal repetition corresponding to afirst coverage enhancement level, wherein the first coverage enhancementlevel is a coverage enhancement level of a first number of coverageenhancement levels; sending, by the base station to the terminal, acoverage enhancement requirement indication message, wherein thecoverage enhancement requirement indication message indicates a secondnumber of signal repetition corresponding to a second coverageenhancement level, and the second coverage enhancement level is acoverage enhancement level of a second number of coverage enhancementlevels; and communicating, by the base station with the terminal,according to the second number of signal repetition.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein the first number of coverage enhancementlevels corresponds to a first precision, and the second number ofcoverage enhancement levels corresponds to a second precision.
 16. Themethod according to claim 14, wherein the second number of coverageenhancement levels is greater than the first number of coverageenhancement levels.
 17. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processorand storing programming instructions for execution by the processor, theprogramming instructions including instructions for: receiving, from aterminal, a random access preamble sequence using a first number ofsignal repetition, the first number of signal repetition correspondingto a first coverage enhancement level, wherein the first coverageenhancement level is a coverage enhancement level of a first number ofcoverage enhancement levels; sending, to the terminal, a coverageenhancement requirement indication message, wherein the coverageenhancement requirement indication message indicates a second number ofsignal repetition corresponding to a second coverage enhancement level,and the second coverage enhancement level is a coverage enhancementlevel of a second number of coverage enhancement levels; andcommunicating, with the terminal, according to the second number ofsignal repetition.
 18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein thefirst number of coverage enhancement levels corresponds to a firstprecision, and the second number of coverage enhancement levelscorresponds to a second precision.
 19. The apparatus according to claim17, wherein the second number of coverage enhancement levels is greaterthan the first number of coverage enhancement levels.
 20. The apparatusaccording to claim 17, wherein the programming instructions furtherinclude instructions for: receiving, from the terminal, an uplinkreference message, wherein the coverage enhancement requirementindication message is sent based on the uplink reference message.